Blakes 1st Sesame Street birthday

Talofa fellow Islanders. This week is Samoan language week and I really want to use some more Samoan in this post. Talofa means hello. Faafetai means thank you. So hello and thanks for reading.

My nephew Blake turned one and we had an awesome party on a budget! In the Island culture its pretty normal to have a big first birthday and invite all your friends and family. This was more of an informal party.

So we had everything at Cornwall park in the Royal Oak/ Onehunga area. We didn't need to rent a room anything so saving money on that!

Its a beautiful park. We set up between the playground and the field so the kids had plenty of options to play where we could supervise.

I really recommend buying the $15 Chinese mats you can find in the shops in Mangere, Otara, Otahuhu and Papatoetoe. Its so much better then sitting on the grass.

Kids don't need themed food! Its a first birthday not a 21st birthday. Just keep it simple. We had people bring a plate and provided the bbq and dessert. Having the table was really useful and don't forget the glad wrap/ plastic wrap to protect the food.

Birthday boys big bro sitting on the special chair. We tied balloons to a string so people could see where the birthday part was. I must say that a lot of little kids wanted to join our party.

I bought a bubble machine as my present and everyone went nuts. It blew some big bubbles. I got it for $25 at Kmart and I need to grab another one.

My aunty provided the lolly/ candy bar. The kids were sugar crazy. Maybe you could substitute some healthy snacks like grapes, carrot sticks and apple slices. 

Washing baskets and containers to store our drinks. Nothing fancy. Easy to transport. 

We made the cupcakes ourselves. And we printed out the cupcake toppers and sellotaped to a toothpick and voila! Instant 'sesame street' cupcakes.

Our birthday boy hugging his Elmo toy. We all had a really great time. It was a party not only for kids but for adults too. The only thing 'Sesame Street' was the dessert table. Everything else was just colourful and thats all you need. No kids going to come up to you and be like "Hey where the **** is the sesame street bro?" Its all good. And you save money buying colourful decorations and not branded decor. You can do this for a lot of different parties.

Faafetai tele ma ia manuia (Thank you) and I'll see you next time.

Prop props

Kia Orana my fellow Islanders,

Ive been very busy trying to balance my home life and social life and now Ive found something that I can do that makes me feel good which is making my own props.

Although I know I can draw with a steadier hand with some, if you really want that personalised prop you'll find a way to draw it.

I have a bit of a business going now so if your in Auckland, New Zealand, and your interested you can comment down below. Orders need at least two weeks to complete.

You will need:

Cardboard

Craft knife

Black permanent markers

Any paint you would like

Skewer sticks

Hot glue gun/ sellotape

You could also use

glitter

coloured paper

The first step is to draw your props. You could choose anything! This was for a wedding so they wanted some general sayings. The groom was a comic book fan so she wanted to make this for him.

I like to save my cardboard so I draw my props close together. I could use some of those spaces in between to make lips or moustaches to use as much cardboard as I can.

Next step is to cut it our with a craft knife. Be safe!

If you accidentally cut too much just try and save it with the permanent marker. She'll be right mate. Then paint with acrylic if possible. Then go over the black lines again to make it pop.

After that you will need to attach the skewer stick to the back. I use hot glue gun or you could use PVA glue or sellotape. 

Here is some of the finished products. Nekminnit is kiwi slang for next minute e.g. "Left my scooter at the dairy.... nekminnit it got raxed (stolen)" We use it in everyday sentences cos the guy who coined the phrase is the man. 

 Shooooole is new slang. Its sole (sou-lei) which means boy in Samoan. The youngins say this to each other at school. And its kinda like saying 'bro'.

You wouldn't be able to buy these anywhere! So my solution is to always try to make it myself.

Whanau means family in Maori. The party guests can pick up the white frame and take photos with the props. 

Ofa Atu to everyone. I hope this helps. Please comment with any questions and if you would like me to make you some and you live in the Auckland area please let me know.